47) Splashed - Ichetucknee River

I have lived in Gainesville for a few years now, but I have never made it up to the Ichetucknee river before. Wow, what a perfect place to launch the canoe. The launch was pretty unceremonious we just put the canoe in the water and took off upstream. This river is a very popular attraction, during the summer thousands of people rent inner tubes and float lazily down the river. The river is crystal clear and lined with all sorts of beautiful Florida vegetation. The canoe paddles perfectly. I have read that this design was stable and could carry a decent load, my main concern was the seat placement, I wanted to make sure the canoe was balanced with the difference between Erin's weight and my own. I also wanted to make sure that the seats were not too high, which would make it feel too tippy. Fortunately, all of my calculations were perfect, the canoe was perfectly balanced with both of us, and was not tippy at all, I was even able to stand up in the canoe! The seat design is perfect, both of us were very comfortable. The current in the river is strong, so it was sometimes difficult to dodge all of the floating people when we were headed up river, the current made tracking a bit squirrely. A small keel would help the boat track better, but I did'nt want to sacrifice turning ability on some of the more challenging runs (i.e. Juniper Springs). Overall, I am very pleased with this design and would readily recommend it to anyone.
Here is the canoe on my Jeep.

Erin proves that there are no leaks.


The beautiful Ichetucknee - the haze in the air is not fog, it is from one of the two hundred wildfires currently burning in the state.

46) Holy Crap! I'm Done!

Well, I just realized that there is nothing left to do. I am done! I feel kind of wierd, I actually looked forward to taking a mental break to work on the boat. What am I going to do now? What is Matt going to do with all of the garage space? I guess I need to start planning some camping trips. Luckily I am in the midst of some of the most beautiful canoe runs in the United States, time to go explore them. I took the canoe out of the garage so I could clean up a bit. I snapped some pictures under Matt's magnolia and was pleased to see some people slowing down to check out my craft as they drove by.

45) Brass Stem Bands

I decided to go with the brass stem bands. They were created by cutting a 6ft half round brass trim piece in half. I then drilled and countersunk holes in the band every 6-8in or so. The band is held in place with #4 3/4in phillips head brass screws. I also ran a bead of silicone under the band and in the screw holes. Overall, I am really pleased with the look and functionality of the bands.

44) Final Varnish Touch Up

My new paddles came, 40 bucks each, old town canoe, rock on.

I knew that Z Spar flagship varnish was prone to dripping and sagging when I boutght it, so I was not upset when I found drips and sags. Although it is really hard to see any flaws until you get it in the right light, this makes fixing drips and sags difficult. Last night I wet sanded the last of the drips and then I marked the spots with blue painters tape before I revarnished them. This is the last coat of varnish... period.

I tipped the canoe up to see what the final product looks like.

The only thing left to do is to install the brass stem bands. To prepare for this, I pre-screwed #4 stainless screws into the pre-drilled holes in the stem. Brass screws are notorious for breaking and I wanted to cut the threads in the wood so I did not have to deal with a bunch of broken screws. Guess what happened.... I broke a damn stainless screw off in my nice shiny stem. One last curse from the canoe gods, I need to come up with a game plan to remove the screw... and then I will put on my stem bands.

Next time, stem bands and sea trials (or stream trials)!